Pursuit
by maryl
Summary: It's business and they make a deal. WIth Chuck and Blair it doesn't stay that way for long. AU story but based off Chair history. I'm giving it a T rating, but there may be a tad of mature theme. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Hello! Okay, so while I'm still torn up about Chair… I managed to write this. I'm going to give this a T rating, but the content will be slightly mature given the subject matter. I've cut back my smut writing in recent times, and I've never written a smutty Chair. What I will say? I'm going for hot... or seductive. Like how only Chair can turn in on… think Yellow Dress scene. I'm might not get it there, but hey? I'm trying to get myself and any other tortured Chairs through the Blonde French girl episodes. Seriously, is she gone end of four? You know I love it when people spoil me. Enough of the blabbing… This chapter is a short one, and is just the intro basically. It's the kick off of the rest of the chapters that will be longer. Here we go…

Chuck sat in his limo staring up at the prewar office building that he had no appointment in, but was going to enter. He had heard rumours. He had caught whispers. But it was as if it was never meant to meet his ears. Chuck Bass was usually given an engraved invitation to the opening of this sort of rarified establishment, but in this case he only knew about from the satisfied murmurs of some of his most high-end hotel clients as they headed out of town. At first he had thought his being kept in the dark had been an accident, a faux pas on the part of the entrepreneurs, but as the weeks went by and their reputation built, they should have become aware of his own and made contact. Taking the intuitive he had put out feelers that then went unanswered. Then he received the slap in the face.

One night he was contacted by a bartender who worked one of his quieter, yet more exclusive clubs, and given that it was becoming know that Chuck was on a hunt for the new agency and that he paid for information, the call had come quickly. The bartender had been serving two men, who were in town on business, and at first it had been one of those mundane conversations he usually tuned out, but then he heard the gist of it. One man was telling his friend about the best night of his life, and how he owed it all to the L.M. Barnes Agency. And in that, Chuck finally had a name. Now, he would have paid handsomely for that alone, but the next bit earned the bartender his tuition for the next two semesters. One, the Agency only dealt with out-of-towners, and two, under no circumstances would any news of the agency be spread to Manhattan proper, and especially to any arm of Chuck Bass Industries or Bass Industries as a whole. Nothing pissed Chuck off more than being excluded in such a demeaning way. But try as he might he had found no concrete proof of its existence or how to contact them.

In the end he had set his best investigators onto it. And yesterday his efforts had born some surprising fruit.

He should have known the minute he heard the name of the agency.

As his driver opened his door, Chuck tugged his leather gloves on and stepped out onto the curb. With a self-satisfied edge to his small smile, he sauntered across the street, into the lobby, and up to the 17th floor. The doors opened directly into an impeccable waiting room, and the soul person in the room, a nervous secretary, stood at his unexpected arrival.

To her credit she tried to stop him from entering the large doors that shielded her employer's office, but he shot her a look and she sat back down. He pushed the doors open, and their slamming shut had the director to the L.M. Barnes Agency spinning around in her high-backed chair to face him.

"Well, well, well… this is a surprise…" He breathed, owning the situation and the upper hand.

"Chuck?" She managed, and he could tell that she hoped she was hallucinating.

"It's been too long, Kitten. Up to new tricks? ... Tricks being a rather apropos word in this situation, wouldn't you agree?"

"I don't know what you think this is, bu—" She bit out.

"I know exactly what this little business is, and I am greatly intrigued…" He came across the room and snapped a card onto her desk. He let his eyes rove over her body, perfectly silhouetted in a black suit jacket and tight pencil skirt. He saved his comment about how he'd missed her naughty librarian look the last couple of years. "I expect to have all my… questions… taken care of tomorrow night… if you don't want news of your little business venture to be spread to the entire Upper East Side, that is… I'll see you at nine."

Without waiting for a response, Chuck meandered out of her office, but it didn't matter, because for the moment Blair Waldorf was actually speechless. She glanced at the appointment card, noting the name of the restaurant, the date and time, before ripping it into a million pieces and then stomping it into the carpet.

She should have known her good luck wouldn't last. She should have known better than to open the most elite escort agency in Manhattan and think Chuck Bass wouldn't find out about it. Damn that Mother Chucker.

TahDAH! Okay, so that's the start of my new fic. Feel free to hate it or ask questions. I deliberately went a little vague, and will go more indepth in the coming chapters… like how and why she opened it, and where the story is situated in CB history. It is AU, so there's that. Hope you enjoy!

PS-I hate Henry Prince.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! I have this fic running through my head, so I'm trying to get as much out before I go away for a few days. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and sent me spoiler support! I'm out of town on Monday and am ALMOST glad I'm not going to have access to the show for a few days… I hope the evil that is the French Blonde doesn't damage my PVR… Forgive typos. I hate proof reading. Okay, here we go…

As Blair looked down at the remnants of Chuck's card, she suddenly had an overwhelming desire to light the rug on fire. Overkill might well have been Blair Waldorf's middle name.

The office was designed in shades of light grey to black, all cold and formal, and not the place one would assume housed the head office of the top escort agency in Manhattan, but much like its owner, the cool exterior hid the fire below. To the casual visitor, Blair could be a hedge-fund trader or partner in a law firm. It reeked of class.

Blair began to pace the room in agitation, trying to think about what Chuck could be up to, and not liking any of the options. She glanced up as her shaken secretary popped into the room.

"Do you think he's going to tell my dad?" Jenny asked nervously.

"What do you think?" Blair commented, thinking more of her dilemma with Chuck than with the other girl's woes. "You're the assistant to a Madame. Good luck at Thanksgiving."

Blair glared Jenny out of the room and then flopped into her chair. Perfect, she thought sarcastically. She rolled her head to the side to stare out the windows of her office and out over her view of the Manhattan skyline. She hadn't seen the Basstard in two years, two years in which her life fell apart, and now, now that she had pulled it back together, he shows up.

Two years ago the bottom had fallen out of her world.

It had started with the implosion of her relationship with Chuck. She had thought if she had just loved him enough, it would be enough. That had blown up in her face.

Blair had been preparing to throw herself into university when the other shoe had dropped. The economy hit both her parents hard. Her father's business shuttered its doors, and her mother's fashion house went under. They were destitute. There was no money for anything, let alone tuition, and at first Blair had felt devastated. But Blair Waldorf was never one to just take life lying down. She pulled herself together and she made a plan.

The first was what to do… then she'd remembered Brandise. Now, Blair was not some girl from the sticks, she was a Waldorf. She was the UES. She'd put together a business plan and used her class and connections to create the most elite and sought after agency in the city. Within the first two months she stole several of her competitor's top escorts, including Brandise, who brought their clients with them. The air of secrecy and the quality of the women and men who worked for her had L.M. Barnes at the top of the list before it had reached its six-month birthday. Now, Blair wasn't in it for the long haul. She had a goal. She was just doing this long enough to reestablish herself, and then she'd walk away.

Blair had been very careful, and none of her friends even knew of her work, but the most important thing was that Chuck didn't find out. She'd gone to great lengths to ensure that he didn't but it ended up being all for naught apparently. So she left the agency, went back to her apartment and put on her most conservative outfit that showed the least amount of skin and sat, staring at the clock until 8:34pm rolled around.

She walked into the restaurant shortly before nine and was shown to a private dining room in the back. Chuck was already there. He sat at the lone table, set for two, but the lighting in the room was so dim there could have been faceless people hidden in the shadows. While she was deciding which would be better, to alone with Chuck or with witnesses, Chuck slowly got up and held out her chair.

As he pushed her chair in she felt him sniff her hair and it sent shivers racing down her body, which only intensified as she felt his fingertips graze her arms. As he returned to his own seat a waiter came in with drinks then disappeared, shuttering them in. She made no comment that her martini was exactly the way she liked it. The man had the memory of an elephant when he wanted to. She sipped her drink, not making eye contact and not engaging. He nursed his scotch and kept his gaze trained on her. When she couldn't stand the tension any longer she threw back her drink and addressed him directly.

"I responded to your summons. Don't get used to it. What do you want, Chuck?"

"Given that I intend this to be a business dinner… I think it would be best if you addressed me more formally…"

"Chuck—" She bit out.

"Mr. Bass." He corrected, and his tone implied no argument.

"Mr. Bass." She began, trying not to choke on the words. "What do you want?'

Chuck leaned forward placing his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his palm as he pretended to contemplate her. "That's not a very interesting question given your line of work, Ms. Waldorf… Let's take a wild guess as to what I'm looking for from the Barnes agency…"

Leaning back he took another sip of his drink, savouring it, and the power he had over his dinner companion. "I'd like to procure a… some company for an evening… And if the evening meets with my… satisfaction, I would of course wish to extend my relationship with the agency… This, naturally, would be advantageous to all parties."

Blair wasn't stupid, and she'd supposed he'd gain some sick pleasure from having her send him women, so she'd brought along the agency's well-rounded portfolio for him to peruse. Without a word she pulled the heavy dossier from her bag and handed it to him.

Opening the leather bound file he glanced up at her. "A thousand a night? How do you keep a clientele…"

"We're exclusive and elite." She reminded him, trying to tell herself he was like any other potential client… any other potential client that she'd love to strangle by his bowtie that is…

"Impressive…" Chuck commented as he flipped through the pages, and yet his voice seemed barely interested. "And yet I find nothing in here that would quench my particular craving…"

"These are the most sought after escorts in the city." Blair let out an agitated breath, tired of playing by his rules but trapped in them nonetheless. "But maybe if you were a tad more specific about what you were looking for…"

"Oh, I know exactly what I'm looking for." His eyes smoldered. "I'm looking for the type of woman who exudes control, and yet knows how to relinquish it in the most desirable ways… A woman that can keep up with me in every way… A woman who wrings me dry and leaves me wanting more…"

"In a word…" He savoured the last as he gazed at his prey. "You."

TahDAH! Okay, I just want to say… I have NO idea how much a high-end call girl would make a night. I picked what sounded like a HUGE amount to me and went with it. Is it wrong that I realized I'd do a lot for a thousand dollars a night? Kidding… Okay, so that was chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you all enjoy the next GG on Monday. Hope we/I make it through.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! Are there any Chair fans left out there? I'm holding on. Partially because I've never de-shipped before, partially because I love Chair that much… and partially because I've decided to just PVR the episodes and not watch until the dust settles. I know I'm a massive chicken. Have you heard spoilers? I think I'll feel sick till about 4x07ish. My plan has, however, allowed me to still love Chair and be able to write the fics. Fingers crossed that I'll be able to watch again soon. Here we go…

"In a word…" He savoured it to the last. "You."

She'd been afraid of that.

"That's not funny."

"I wasn't making a joke."

Blair sat straighter in her chair and her chin rose a notch. "Sorry, I'm not on the books. I'm proprietor not employee."

"I've looked at the menu… and you're all I want. So I suggest you put yourself on the books and get into the game… or this little business venture of yours isn't just going to collapse… it's going to earn you an orange jumpsuit… Remember what your mother always said… You could never pull off orange."

"Much like my mother, you're wrong. I look stunning in orange, and I'm not up for offer."

"Now… that is a shame. Afraid going pro might interfere with your ability to compete competitively?" He waved the discussion away to focus on his main threat. "As far as I can see… you have only the one option. And since it's not like I haven't sampled your numerous charms before… Another go, strictly professionally, should certainly be worth keeping your little agency off of the headlines, and your sweet rump out of prison…"

Blair Waldorf behind bars…

"You wouldn't…"

He merely smiled and Blair felt the noose around her neck pull tight. Seeing her lack of options she began to cave.

"I wouldn't be off the rack…"

"Ten grand?" He quoted the nightly rate he'd noted in the portfolio earlier.

In a last ditch effort to save herself Blair tossed out. "A hundred."

"Done." Chuck confirmed without missing a beat. "My secretary will be in touch to set up the appointment."

He got up from the table and straightened his jacket before walking over to a stunned and silent Blair. She came out of her daze as he leaned in to kiss her cheek, and she turned her head away. Instead he whispered into her ear and it evoked new chills and old memories.

"Wear cream for me. You know how much I like it when your lingerie matches your skin… Like you're not wearing anything at all…"

He left then, and it was just in time because Blair was certain she was about to stab him with her fork.

She was about to leave the restaurant when the waiter stopped her.

"Ms. Waldorf, Mr. Bass inferred that since it was a business meeting you would be seeing to the check. He also said to remind you that you could write it off…" The man said professionally. Given the near joy the usually stoic Bass had taken in not paying the check, the waiter assumed there was more going on, but wisely kept his mouth shut. Whatever game was being played he knew better than to interfere with the players… and judging by the flash of anger that came across the beautiful woman's features, she was losing.

"Of course." Blair managed to smile tightly before pulling out a credit card.

From there she went straight home, poured herself a glass of wine and went and stood out on the terrace looking out over Central Park. She had tried to train her body, over the years, to forget Chuck's touch. The way he made her feel. The way it felt to by caressed by him, and to caress him in return. She hated how good her memory was at times. But systematically she had almost done it… and now this.

She remembered their last time together perfectly. It had not been his best work. The stress over the loss of the Empire, Jack, and his mother had taken a toll on Chuck and seemingly his libido. After being kicked out Chuck and Nate had moved into Blair's, and since her mother and Cyrus were in Europe they'd basically had the place to themselves. Knowing that Chuck needed her Blair stopped sleeping at her dorm, and made sure she spent every night close to him. At many points it was a wasted effort, because while Chuck Bass barely slept during the good times, he hardly slept at all when things were rough. Because of this there was many times where she fell asleep waiting for him, or she woke up to find him gone.

That last time, she'd woken to find his hands roaming her body, and it seemed as if he had waited for the bare sign that she was conscious before pushing up her slip and rolling her under him. He'd barely kissed her and the whole thing was over almost before it had even started, and for the first time ever with him, Blair was left frustrated. He hadn't said anything, just kissed her shoulder once, and then had gone downstairs to drink his way through her parent's liquor cabinet.

After a cold shower she had told herself that the next time she'd see he made up for it. There had never been a next time. And after everything that happened she had been convinced that she never wanted a next time, but it seemed that wasn't to be.

The next day, having drunk herself to sleep the night before Blair arrived at her office late and with dark glasses shielding her sensitive eyes. She gingerly lowered herself into her chair and pressed a button on her phone to lower the shades in the room, cutting off the light that seemed bound and determined to crush her hung-over brain. It was a few minutes before she spotted the envelope left on her desk by Jenny. Chicken.

Opening it she found a key card to a suite at the Surrey Hotel and Thursday at 8pm written on a card with a bold B embossed on it.

And on that day, at that precise time… Blair slid the key card through the lock. Walking through that door would be like walking into a movie that she hadn't written, and with her hand on the doorknob she wasn't sure it wasn't a role that would break her in the end… and so she waited.

TahDAH! You want to know something embarrassing? I thought so. Instead of waiter I was going to use the host that starts with an 'm'. You know what I'm saying? The dude at the front… yeah, couldn't for the life of me remember/figure out how to spell that. I'm an idiot. I'm pretty sure it's French… I should get a pass for that. And I recently cut out a lot of sugar. I think my brain functioned better with it. Sorry the chapter is a little short!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello! Wow. People sure got vocal over the last chapter. I'm impressed and thanks for the feedback. With the… I was going to say coming chapter, but that seems a tad crass given the subject matter. (haha. If you can't laugh at your own jokes who else will?) Instead I'll say this about what you are about to read… I'm not going for pure smut. I'm going for hot. Chair hot. We'll see. Fingers crossed. Here we go…

Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she pushes open the door and walks in with all the confidence of a woman who was used to controlling every situation. She will not get played.

He's not there.

"How anticlimactic." She drawls to the empty room.

The overhead lights are off and only a couple of dim lamps light the room. As she glances around the exquisite, yet minimally designed suite, she notices two things. One is a note card, with his emboldened B, set on a side table, and two, a dinning room chair is set oddly and alone in the centre of the room.

Walking over to the table she quickly scans the note.

_Ms. Waldorf,_

_Running late. __Please feel free to start the clock. __Have a seat._

_Mr. Bass_

"Ass." She mumbles as she sets the card down and glances over at the

Who does he think he is, she needlessly says in her head before her temper picks up and a million voices of Chuck echo in her head. _I'm Chuck Bass._

Walking to the chair she circles it several times, a frown creasing her brow. Finally she takes off her coat, carefully lays it over a sofa across the room, and then sits in the chair to wait. Blair's back is to the door and she faces out towards the windows. She can see lights from other buildings twinkling through the curtains, and concentrates on that. She doesn't move a muscle even though her hands feel the urge to twist the perfectly steamed hem of her skirt.

What feels like hours pass until she hears the soft chime of a key card slide the lock. She hears the door open, but doesn't turn around. She continues to sit perfectly still even after she has heard the door click shut.

Chuck walks to her slowly, and much like she did earlier, he circles the chair, but this time his eyes take in every nuance of the woman sitting coolly in it. He looks at her as someone would study fine a Monet. A Monet they had recently purchased after having spent years admiring it. Blair feels her blood kick up a notch. She keeps her eyes on the twinkling lights, especially when she feels him stop at her back.

"Stand up…" He commands softly from behind her.

With an agitated sigh, she does so, and stands with her hands folded in front of her in a hardly seductive pose. He makes no comment at the orange dress that dips and folds over the curves of her body, but she knows him and knows that he gets her subtle dig. She looks stunning in orange. Once again he circles her, moving in closer this time, so close she can feel his breath on the exposed skin of her neck and shoulders.

"Let's get this over with." Blair says coolly, trying to urge him faster. She consented to this, albeit against her will and better judgment, but she can feel her anticipation of him really touching her building with each second, and her self preservation instincts demand that this be done quickly.

"Clearly you are new to this… This is about what I want… And I want to take my time…" His breath moves the hair that curls near her ear.

Minutes later his first touch is hardly a touch at all, more like the whisper of his fingers shifting down the skin of her upper arms. Gooseflesh breaks out all down her skin, and she shudders slightly in pleasure, but hating how he knows that area is a hyper sensitive zone for her… because he was the first to discover it years ago.

His hands find the zipper of her dress and he pulls it, enjoying the way she shivers at the sound of the zipper sliding down. Two gentle tugs later and the dress pools at her feet.

He does smile now.

A black corset and lingerie decorate her body.

He expected no less.

He sweeps the hair from her neck and layers it over her shoulder, baring her nape, before moving slightly away from her to sit down in the chair she's recently vacated. She can only imagine the picture he's made for himself, and her whole body jolts as she feels his hands skim her sides to her waist before leaving her completely.

"Turn around…"

She complies, but keeps her gaze over his head. His gaze stays level on her chest. His hands reach out, and with a strong grip he clasps her hips, tugging her slightly forward.

"Come here…"

With his indication she straddles his hips, resting her weight on his thighs. His head dips and he merely breathes across the smooth expanse of her scantily clad breast, and she catches her breath, refusing to gasp. She can feel his body's heat through the fabric of his clothes, and she's about to look away from the intensity of desire in his eyes when he commands her.

"Kiss me."

She closes her eyes as she complies and the kiss it open and hot. She loses her breath in the intensity of it, and she nearly loses herself in the passion and feel of being held so tightly by him again. Time passes and her hands fist in the collar of his jacket, while his roam both the covered and bare expanses of her skin. Finally he pulls his mouth away from hers and his lips more to the shell of her ear.

"Purr for me…"

And much to her shame, for the rest of the night, she did.

Blair awoke, wearing only a sheet, alone in the large hotel bed that smelled solely of them. Pushing the fall of dark curls that fell across her eyes off her face, she glanced around to see that not only was the bed empty but so was the rest of the suite. On the nightstand lay neat stacks of cash that she knew would add up to a hundred thousand, and his personalized card lay next to it.

Picking up the card she read the name of another hotel, date, and time. She flopped back on the bed, the crisp white sheet clutched to her chest.

"Salaud."

TahDAH! Okay, there will be more details to come, but I wanted to address the first night on its own. I'll also be using Blair's point of view for a while and then moving to Chuck's towards the end of the fic.

Before I forget I want to say thanks to everyone for the maitre D spellcheck. I maintain it is a hard word. Very Frenchy. Oui. And yes, yes as a Canadian I took mandatory French classes from like… grades four to nine, but the result is… I can basically just tell you my name. And yet I attempted to used French again. Oh, and there is a Surrey Hotel. I googled five star Manhattan hotels. The details I add…


	5. Chapter 5

Hello! In honour of the French Blonde being gone… as far as some nice people have told me, I'm writing a chapter. Plus it gives me something to do to keep me from peeking at the show and then vomiting. Okay, I wrote that before my Internet died and I couldn't post this. It's up now so enjoy! Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadian! Gobble, gobble… I don't even celebrate, but I like the long weekend. Here we go…

Tonight was a good night.

She was cloaked in an exquisite gown that flowed around her as she moved across the ballroom. She was surrounded by the best of the UES society, and she knew every move and every note.

Blair Waldorf was in her element.

Blair smiled coyly up through her lashes at him. He was perfectly handsome in all her favourite ways. She liked the feel of the way his arms held her securely as they waltzed around the dance floor. She liked that he not only knew how to waltz, but was impeccable at it. She liked so much about him.

As the music drew to a close he slowed them to a stop and bowed deeply to her. Laughing she curtsied back and took his hand when he offered it. He led her off the floor and escorted her to their seats before leaving to get them drinks. Blair watched him walk away thinking this had been the best date she'd been on in a long while, and fairy tales still happened.

"Why Ms. Waldorf this is a surprise…"

And of course Chuck Bass had to come and shoot her night to hell. It was the way his eyes roved over her body that reminded her he purchased it three to four nights a week. The dress that she loved suddenly felt slightly coarse as she remembered it came from the money he had paid her over the past few weeks to satisfy his base appetites. It was the way his arm slid around her waist and he took her hand, pulling her onto the dance floor and possessively into a new waltz that reminded her of how, in many ways right now… he was the one in control.

Her heel 'accidentally' ground into his foot.

He flinched, his hand tightening on hers a second before he relaxed into the Cheshire Cat again.

"Busy week?" He smiled making sure they were both thinking of the last two nights they'd spent in two different hotels in the city. "Had I known you were willing to put in overtime… or is this off the clock?

"I'm on a date." She bit out.

"Ahh… Pro-bono." He glanced around and quickly spotted his target. "And what a charity case it is…"

"Avery graduated from Yale Law. His mother is a judge and his father heads a fortune five hundred." She defended, but knew she didn't really care about any of that because deep down she really didn't care about Avery.

"And he's new money and you know it."

"You're new money and I—" Blair faltered for a fraction of a second before replacing the word in her sentence. "Dated you."

If he caught her stumble he didn't comment on it, but there was a slight chill in his voice when he spoke again. "And walked away."

"You drove me away."

"Ah… But you're with me now." Chuck reminded her, holding her a fraction of an inch tighter.

"For a price. That's the only way you could ever have me. Desperation." Blair coolly pointed out while subtly trying to pull slightly away from him.

"And yet, here you are… In my arms… free of charge."

She hated his smarmy, self-satisfied tone.

"I hate you."

"And yet you'll see me Monday night at nine… and love every second of it."

Her hand tried to slip from his to slap him, but his grip tightened as he anticipated her move.

"Now, now, Kitten… You don't want to show your claws in front of this crowd. It might draw unwanted attention… affect future clientele. A woman in your industry should be known for discretion…"

For the rest of the dance Blair shut him out. She could feel his eyes burning into her, but she didn't look up, just kept her gaze on a point over his left shoulder. When the music finally ended, she quickly slipped away from him and returned to Avery. She attempted to reclaim her earlier enjoyment of the night, but it was too late, and as soon as she was sure Chuck had left the ball, she made her own excuses. She promised to call Avery, but knew she never would.

She went straight home, slipped off her gown, and curled up under the covers on her bed. She tried not to think about it, tried to never think about it actually, but sometimes she couldn't help but remember how much she had loved Chuck Bass. It probably hadn't been healthy, but what she had felt for him had been an all-consuming love that she had never felt for anyone before or since. However, over the years, she'd realized that he never really felt the same way. Her therapist had been all over personal responsibility, so Blair had come to think of her role in their relationship. To her mind… She had loved him so much, and been so convinced they were perfect for each other in a way nobody else was… she had convinced him that he love her back. When she tried to think about why he went along with it she could rationalize a million answers the top ones being that they had always been friends and that he didn't really know what love was. These to things and her insistence that he loved her… is what she now believed had led them to both think that he did.

She had never wanted to lose him, and he had traded her away within their first year. He had believed she would stay with him through anything, and she very nearly had… until she'd learned about Jenny. And then almost as if it had to be driven home to her, while she was still morning her broken heart… he moved on. Not only on, but also to a perfect and kind girl. Blair hated her, and she hated him for proving that the love they had was one sided. Even knowing what he had planned… it only made the pill an even more bitter one to swallow.

_Flashback_

_Blair walked into her Mother's apartment after a long day at Columbia. She had seen Chuck and his French Blonde, and her dinner had suddenly needed to vacate her body asap. Coming home she felt deflated, and she was just about to muster the energy to walk up the stairs when she saw it… It was the signature piece for the finale of her mother's next collection. A wedding gown._

_Almost against her will she moved into the chaos that was the living room during collection, and she lifted the gown into her arms. It was on her before she knew her own mind, and she stood in front of the full-length mirror set in the middle of the room and stared at her reflection._

_The dress was all wrong for her, of course. It was far to trendy and not nearly as classic and ornate as Blair would have wanted her mother to design a wedding dress for her… but it was a wedding gown, and wearing it Blair could imagine herself as a bride._

_Sometime later, Eleanor Waldorf arrived home. She rubbed the bridge of her nose tiredly, and was just about to head upstairs after quickly checking on her collection, when she saw Blair. Her first reaction was to snap at Blair, and tell her she knew better than to try on pieces, especially the gowns, before they were shown. Then she caught the look on Blair's in the mirror. Underneath her vacant gaze, Blair's eyes shone with devastation. Almost always unsure of her role as a Mother, but instinctively wanting to make that look in her only child's eyes go away, Eleanor carefully approached her and placed comforting hands on Blair's shoulders._

"_Blair…" She murmured gently._

_For a second it was like Blair didn't recognize the face behind her in the mirror. Inhaling and snapping out of her trance, her hands floated to the neckline of the dress and she was about to apologize for wearing it, knowing how her mother hated pieces being worn by anyone other than the models before a show, but her mother spoke first._

"_You look beautiful." Eleanor assured her truthfully, hoping that that was the right thing to say._

_The care Blair saw in her mother's eyes nearly broke her. Her hands slipped over her mother's._

"_What happened with Charles?" Eleanor asked for the millionth time, in the moment not put out at all over the fact that Dorota probably knew the whole story._

_Blair shook her head and a tear escaped each eye. Her chin dropped to her chest, and while she could tell her mother the whole past, she could tell her what tortured her now, standing here, in this dress._

"_He bought a ring… He was going to ask…" She licked her lower lip and tried to blink back the tears that still burned her eyes. "I could have said yes. I could have been his wife… But it wouldn't have lasted."_

_Blair turned in her mother's arms, clasping her hands tight. She turned tortured eyes on her Mother. "Was this how it was with Daddy? Loving someone and knowing they didn't love you back the same way? If it was… I'm so sorry Mother… I'm so sorry I never knew how much you hurt."_

"_Oh, my girl…" Eleanor whispered before pulling Blair tight into her arms. "Your Father and I… We were something different. You and Chuck… I can tell you this… It will pass. You will get over this."_

_Blair looked at her mother. "How do you know?"_

"_You're a Waldorf woman. We, my dear, are a very special breed."_

_Blair smiled at the confidence her mother was trying to impart on her, and for a moment felt lighter. As her mother helped her out of the gown Blair told herself that it was time to be done loving Chuck Bass. It was time to hate him forever._

_End of flashback._

On Monday night, in another bed entirely, Blair lay replete against silken sheets. She lay on her side, only touching him where her head rested against his outstretched arm, and she knew, much like herself, he was awake. Chuck often talked while they had sex, but it was almost always pure sex talk, and he was good at it and exciting her with the timber and tone of his voice, so it wasn't always about what he was saying. But tonight, between bouts, he had been talking… about them, about the past, calling shared memories their consciousness, and the feelings from all of those times.

Now the past few weeks, the memories of the past, and the physical feel of him lying so close to her again rose up to choke her. She turned away from him to stare at the tacky throw pillow on the chair across the hotel room, and tried hard to swallow the sob that wanted to burst out. She nearly lost it when she felt him curl to her back and slip his arm over her bare waist to pull her close. It was a lover's embrace.

Blair had told herself she would hate him forever, but as she bit her lip till it bled, she knew she loved him more than ever.

TahDaH! Okay, some of your reviews reference wanting to know what their history was. Let's see… I write sometimes when I'm frustrated with a plot line and this is where some of this story has come out of. I'm sticking fairly close to the show's line for their past, but with slight differences… possibly because I haven't watched much if any of the season so far. Tonight is my first night back! For those who haven't heard me say this before… I have the beginning, middle and end of a fic loosely mapped out in my head, but I stream of consciousness write the actually chapters. What I can say right now… Is it's feeling like the next chapter will be from Chuck's POV. We'll see. Enjoy tonight's episode… French Blonde FREE!


	6. Chapter 6

Hello! I am not dead. I am just very inconsistent. My Naley readers can vouch for that. Once again I did not watch the first four episodes and I think that affected my creativity, but… I don't know what it was… I can't quite put my finger on it… But they're kind of going again. Let's hope it lasts. Here we go…

Chuck's hand tightened around his glass as the latest pictures flashed across his phone. She was avoiding him, out every night, dating several of Manhattan's most eligible, and she was doing it just to spite him. He could feel it in his bones.

This wasn't part of his plan. He had waited years for her to get over it and forgive him. They were perfect for each other. He knew it was him that had screwed it up at every turn, but he had never felt for anyone else even half of what he'd felt for her.

After he had lost her, after she knew about Jenny, he had thrown himself into what anyone else would consider to be a healthy relationship, one of those Hallmark ones that makes you a better person. What a load of crap. While he had managed to fool them both while in Europe he had grown bored of his re-bound relationship within a month of coming home to New York. She scared easily and she never once tried to steal his shoes.

He'd broken it off with her with some cash and a one-way ticket back to Europe.

Being in a relationship just because it makes you a better person is a lie. The truth is the only way a relationship is real is if that person sees you, sees where all the bodies are buried and not only loves you in spite of that but also for that.

Blair had never really expected him to be a better person. She had just wanted him to be her Chuck Bass. It is what he now wanted to be more than anything.

He had had a reality check a few years ago when he realized he'd spent a great deal of time bemoaning having never had a family and never been loved. He remembered hurting Blair with words about the other woman being his future. The truth was Blair was his family and the one who truly loved him, and she was his only future.

He would have told her that a while ago, but the stubborn creature had frozen him out. It was like she wanted to pretend that their pull was gone forever.

When he had learned about her family's financial problems he had thought it was only a matter of time before she would be coming to him for help. He had counted on it. Then the little pain in the ass had gone and taken care of her own problems, and for the longest time he had been at a loss as to how she had done it. He once again had to sit back and wait.

Than her little business venture had landed her right in his lap. He missed her being a constant in his life, and knew that his empty threats were the best way of getting back into her life. He would start off slow, and lock her back to him before she knew it.

The endless nights of sex had been amazing, and he had counted on it triggering her old feelings for him. His girl was a romantic and she couldn't hold out against their past and their present as he increased the nights he paid her to spend with him. Then last week he had made the tragic tactical error of becoming jealous, blindly, gut wrenchingly jealous of her out with another man.

It had made him sloppy and push her to fast. The next night they had been together he had felt the desperation to make her remember what they had had, so instead of shutting up and worming his way back in, he had tried to pry his way. As he'd touched her skin he'd recounted his first and favourite memories of it. As he kissed her he'd reminded her of the first time their lips had met. And as he claimed her body he had insisted that he owned it now as much as then.

All of that might not have been so bad… but then, as she lay quietly beside him in the dark, he had spoken about their past. This was not a past built solely out of passion and sex it was one of great bonding. He started to very softly talk to her and take her down memory lane with him. They hadn't started in a limo; they had started on a playground. Blair had always understood him, and vice versa. They were smarter and quicker than a lot of people, which sometimes made them the only one, who could ever really take the other down. This is something they had done repeatedly over the years and had always found their way back to each other. Chuck was convinced that given enough time in this arrangement, they would find themselves together again. However this would involve her seeing him, which she had been careful to not let happen for days.

This was surprised when he made his daily call to the agency the next day, and Jenny had booked him an appointment. He had been ready to pull out the threats again. He had been ready to make demands. Instead he got granted an evening of her time, and while that should have brought him peace, it set him more on edge than ever.

He had showed up at the hotel room early that night. He didn't want games, he wanted to pound her into the mattress till she admitted she was his and always had and would be. He wanted to use her body to force her mind into understanding that they were better together than they ever were apart.

He wasn't expecting her to be there when he opened the door, but he sure as hell wasn't expecting the package of documents to be waiting on a chair set in the centre of the room. Flipping through them he took note of several of the names of not only his more conservative clientele, but also some of his more stogy board members as well. The documents indicated that all of them could and would receive evidence of his engagement in the illegal activity of prostitution should he try to continue this arrangement.

His jaw clenched. Mutually assured destruction? Hadn't that always been their way…

It was at the very end he found the small, hand written note.

_You have had all of me that I am willing to give you. _

_This ends now. Goodbye, Chuck._

It wasn't signed. It didn't have to be.

He crumpled it up and hurled it across the room… a second before he tore the room apart.

TahDAH! That was a little Chuck POV. Hope you liked it. It's looking like the next chapter is going to be the last. On a side note… is anyone else wondering what the point of season three was? I loved most of it, and it had some of my favourite Chair scenes in it… but couldn't you almost take the whole section out from where he left her after graduation to Paris and have nearly the same situation? Sorry. I think I still have lingering bitterness towards Chuck. What was the point of her getting him to admit he loved her if it was/he was going to blow it all apart? Much like Blair I love him but… damn that Mother Chucker.

Last thing… The "it was fate" thing for him doing Jenny? What a load of crap. That's like your boyfriend coming to you and saying "If it hadn't have been raining, I never would have gone into the drugstore to buy an umbrella, and I never would have ended up screwing the cashier. It was just fate." I can't believe they had Blair not only buy, but also agree with that BS.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello! This is not a spoiler, this is just what I wish would happen. At the end of this season our boy proposes and then when it does that "One Week Later" business… it turns out they eloped. Too much to hope for? A Chair can dream. Okay, you caught me… I wrote this opening A/N a while ago and can't remember if I've used it. Now, I've gotten caught up with some other things and other fics. I had to go back and actually read Pursuit, which is not something I normally do. I took some heat in another fic, so I'll just let people know again… I rarely if ever proofread my fics. I write them for a fun and as a hobby. I get that that can sometimes make them a pain in the ass to read, but I'm just not the type of writer to fuss over them. More power to the ones who are. Here we go…

Catching his breath after taking out a hotel room he would have to pay highly to restore, Chuck straightened his clothes and bee lined to her office. It was empty. More than that it didn't seem like a single sheet of paper had been left un-shredded.

"Damn." He muttered and was in the elevator and headed to her apartment before the elevator had even shut. His Kitten was on the run.

He'd had her doorman on retainer since before this whole thing had begun, and so with one phone call the man was waiting in the lobby to escort Chuck to her apartment and let him in. As he knocked he had the faint hope that she didn't have that great a lead and that he'd catch her still on home soil. No such luck.

The doorman opening up her empty suite sealed the deal.

Waving the man away, Chuck walked through the rooms anyway. The place was small, for the way they grew up, but it was stamped with Blair. Passing through the tasteful front rooms he went into her bedroom. Once again the room was Blair. The Audrey portrait that had hung in her room since she was seven graced one wall. Her copy of Jane Eyre lay on the bedside table. A picture of she and Serena on the front steps of the Met was on the dresser. He wished he'd seen some evidence of his own influence on her life, but she seemed to have wiped herself clean of him.

He didn't need to open her closet to know that it was empty, but he did it anyway. He wanted to smell her perfume. He wanted her. The small walk-in had been stripped bare, but poking out of one drawer he spotted the edge of one perfect black stocking. Catching it up, he lifted it to his lips… and the hunt was on again.

"Dad, don't crack the wishbone without me!" Jenny called to her father over her shoulder as she pulled the door open. She had a smile on her face. Then she saw Chuck Bass on her doorstep. "Crap."

Chuck stopped the door from slamming in his face and instead caught Jenny's wrist and pulled her out into the hall with him.

"Where is she?" He demanded without preamble.

She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't terrified by the look Chuck gave her, but Blair had taught her well and it didn't show on the outside.

"To whom are you speaking?" She bated, letting him know she knew and letting him know she wasn't prepared to tell him.

Chuck wanted to do her violence. The clock was ticking. He was just about to unleash a few choice threats when the door was pulled open and Dan joined them in the hall, making the air charge with tension.

"What's going on out here?" Dan asked with a nearly clichéd repetitiveness.

"Nothing." Jenny said with a doe-eyed innocence that nobody bought anymore.

"Jenny." Dan rolled his eyes. "Should I get Dad?"

Chuck spoke first. "What an excellent idea, Humphrey. Do go on…"

Jenny showed the first signs of panic and grabbed Dan's arm. "No! Don't!"

"Oh, no." Dan groaned. "What did you do now?"

"Nothing… I was led astray and corrupted by the Upper East Side."

"Jenny, even Dad won't buy that line again. You're easily corrupted because you enjoy the corruption. It's a part of your nature."

"Well said, Humphrey." Chuck agreed with a sly smile, knowing that Blair would have also enjoyed seeing one of Jenny's biggest cheerleaders call her out.

"Shut up, Chuck." Dan said without looking away from Jenny. "Maybe I don't want to know what is really going on. Maybe I just want to think you're the same girl that hand stitched clothes for Cedric when we were little kids. But to do that you're going to have to tell Chuck what he wants to hear. I'm guessing it involves Blair?"

"Doesn't it always?" Giving an eye roll of her own.

"Where is she?" Once again, not a question, but a demand.

"Why would Jenny know where Blair is?"

"She's been working for her."

"Doing what?" Dan cringed and rubbed his forehead. "You know what? Forget I asked… Is that why I got an iPad for Christmas? I feel dirty."

Jenny ignored Dan, and instead focused on dissuading Chuck. "Even if I do know where she is… What makes you think I'll tell you?"

"Fear." He said simply, and they both knew he would follow through.

Jenny sighed at being caught up in yet another Chuck and Blair tug of war. "I don't know where she is… at least not exactly. I do know that she's liquefied and is covering her tracks."

"What else?" Chuck nodded, expecting no less.

"I know she had a large sum transferred into Yen."

Chuck nodded, his search parameters shrinking in his head. He was about to turn and walk away without another word when Jenny's musings stopped him.

"What are you going to do? Chase her forever?"

"So what? He's in love with her again?" Dan jumped in incredulously.

"He was never out of love with her." Jenny commented knowingly. She wasn't looking at her brother, but at Chuck. As an avid Blair follower, whether Blair welcomed it or not, Jenny knew everything about Blair and everything about everyone around her.

"Don't worry, Chuck. I don't expect an answer. Run along. She's got a wicked head start."

Chuck was on the move before her words even echoed down the hall.

Blair walked confidently through the corridors of one of Britain's top fashion magazine's head office, at home and in her element. She'd been an intern there for less than a month and she had already clawed her way up to chief intern… Queen of the Interns, if you would. As she passed a cubical she nodded, with more than a hint of triumph at the dethroned former Queen, Tamsen. Blair had to admire her to a degree, she had put up a good fight and had aimed her minions at Blair repeatedly… but in the end Blair always won. Blair almost felt sorry for her, but you really couldn't be expected to keep your crown when you got caught in a broom closet with a caretaker. And maybe the texted pictures Blair had sent out hadn't helped. However since then she was always given the choice assignments and the other interns followed her lead with the devotion of those who know fear.

Yes, Blair Waldorf always won. She smiled to herself as she sat down at her desk, her success in dodging Chuck Bass, and establishing a life for herself in London over the past three months was proof of that. While she had been convinced of her eminent capture for the first month, she had decidedly let her guard down this last month. She had bested him. She had gotten away. He wasn't coming after her, and if he had been he would have showed up a while ago.

She refused to acknowledge the part of her that ached over him not.

Checking her email, she was about to contact the accessories department when the phone on her desk rang. It was her boss and she wanted to meet with her… the boss who could offer actual employment and her next step up the ladder. Blair felt her confidence soar. Goodbye internship, hello assistant. Blair smiled to herself, ever the over-achiever; at this rate Blair had every reason to believe she'd be editor before she was thirty.

When she'd reached her boss' office she'd been directed to the editor's, and Blair felt a moment of trepidation, but shook it off. She walked into the suite five minutes later, and again tried to ignore the shaking in the pit of her stomach. Her editor was standing by the desk and smiled when he saw her. The man had been an acquaintance of her mother's and that had bred a degree of familiarity that you would think would comfort Blair now, but instead it made her have to resist the urge to crack her knuckles.

"Blair, usually I would never have put an intern at the top of the list to learn this news, but… we've been bought!"

"What?" Blair gasped; thinking of all the wasted sucking up she'd done recently.

"Not to worry! You know the new owner, and he's not only spoken highly of you, but selected you to be his personal executive assistant!"

Blair thought she was about to vomit. She told herself the feeling of being cornered was in her imagination, but then she heard the office door open and close behind her. She couldn't turn around, and she heard the editor's words as if from a great distance.

"Blair, our new owner—"

He came and stood directly in front of her a sly grin lifting one corner of his mouth.

She cut off her editor, resignedly beating him to the punch.

"Chuck. Bass."

TahDAH! Good news if you like this story, bad news if you don't… I got an idea to expand it so it will go on a little longer! Now this could have been a very long chapter, but I broke it in half. I have the other half almost ready, so there won't be as big a gap between chapters.


	8. Chapter 8

Hello! Is everyone excited for the return? I am! I know… you anti-Dairs are braced to boycott, believe me, I get it. I didn't watch the first four of season four, and I'll hate that blonde actress forever. No Harry Potter for me now. But Dair? For some reason I think I can watch Diar. Who know? Maybe I'm wrong and they'll make me want to claw my eyes out. Once again, I didn't proof read but I'm sure a couple of you will love me anyway. Here we go…

"Chuck. Bass." She gritted out.

Chuck Bass didn't do glee, but the smile he gave her was about as close as he came. "You know I love it when you say my name."

Without missing a beat, Blair glanced over at her current boss. "I quit."

Chuck smile grew at her immediate reaction, and subtly signaled to clear the room leaving them alone. Her professional stance changed, and she crossed one leg over the other in agitation. Her foot was tapping before he'd even sat down behind the large desk, and when he looked up and met her gaze he had put on his business game face.

"Now that interruptions are out of the way… shall we go over the expectations of the job…" She read every innuendo he put into those words.

"You have got to be kidding me." She rolled her eyes, and then without missing a beat she repeated herself. "I quit."

He leaned back, contemplating her. "Now why would you do that? We're about to have so much fun…"

"Like I've said before…" Blair got up indignantly. "Have fun playing with yourself."

He said nothing as he watched her leave his office. He said nothing as he walked out the door after her. He said nothing until he had followed her out onto the busy office floor.

"Blair, there's no reason to be upset… we just have to be discreet." He spoke in a way that made it seem like the words had been meant only for her, and yet she knew he had deliberately made the perfectly clear for everyone in a metre radius. The way office gossip spread that was all it would take.

She froze on the spot and her eyes shut for a heartbeat. She could already hear the whispers and feel the eyes on her. Taking a breath she stifled a flinch as she felt him directly behind her, so close she could feel his breath in her hair.

"You suck." She bit out not turning around.

"And you enjoy every minute of when I do." He smirked, letting everyone know exactly how he had deliberately misinterpreted her comment.

Blair started walking again and she didn't stop until she reached her desk. She say down and on autopilot finished her day. She wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her flight from the one man who could break her heart.

He didn't approach her again, and everyone else in the office was too afraid to. Finally, with all her work completed, she packed up her purse, slipped on her jacket, and headed for the elevator bays.

Getting home she marched through her flat and pulled her luggage from the closet. She hadn't even drawn open the first zipper when she was stopped.

"You really can be so predictable sometimes…"

She jumped a foot and spun around to see Chuck Bass sprawled out across her bed, looking so relaxed flipping through a magazine that she almost thought to apologize for interrupting him. Good sense caught her. She stiffened her spine and pulled down the zipper.

"Chuck." She greeted as began packing her suitcase.

He watched her for a few moments before getting up with a sigh. He came over and pulled her hands from her task, holding them tightly within his own.

"Blair… stop. It's time we clear the air… fix this." He said with the voice that could usually get her to do anything.

"There's nothing to fix." She said as her chin came up.

"Yes there is… and you're scared. That's why you ran from New York and that's why you are running now."

"I'm not sc—"

"Yes you are. You're scared of loving me again, and scared of me loving you."

"You break my heart again and again… I wonder why I'd be scared?" She mocked him as well as herself.

They both still felt it. Those two moments that had rocked their bond to its foundation. They were both taken back in their minds to the lobby of her mother's apartment, standing there and seeing the relationship she had put everything into end up shredded at her feet, and him knowing that his need for something else had been the cause. And then there was that moment in the hospital and all they could see was betrayal and pain.

Blair gasped at just the memory of it.

"I'm not the man I was two years ago."

"No. You're worse."

"Are we talking about me making myself your new boss… or are you referring to our most recent transactions in Manhattan…"

He saw the flash in her eyes that told him she was still angry about New York. He actually had the audacity to smile. "I thought I made a very attentive John…"

Her hand pulled from his to slap him, but Chuck caught it and kissed her knuckles softly instead.

"Blair, I'm tired of these games… I love you, you love me, and it's time we were together." He insisted.

"Liar. You don't know what you're saying." She shook her head again and the tears she tried so hard to stop broke free. "You don't love me. I'm all you've ever had. That's not the same as love."

Rage flashed in Chuck eyes, and his voice went deadly cold. "Don't you dare tell me that I never loved you, that I don't love you."

She laughed bitterly. "Why not? I was the one that kept telling you that you did until you believed it. I'm just working in reverse this time. Go with it."

"Stop it." He couldn't believe what she was saying. How could she ever even imagine that he was anything less than complete in love with her? Yes, he had made mistakes, but she had to know that he loved her and had never thought that that was one of them. Her next words confirmed his fear. She had talked herself out of knowing that Chuck Bass loved her.

"Loving me was the hardest thing you ever did, you told me so yourself. It shouldn't be hard. It should be the simplest thing in the world." She told him.

"One, I believe you've misquoted me. I said saying I love you was hard. Loving you… has always been easy. I've known it since before you slid across that limo seat to me." Chuck knew that everything was riding on this. He had to make her believe again in her bones that he loved her.

"Blair, this isn't a game. You and I are everything. I need you, and I know you need me." He implored.

"No. We were sick and twisted… and maybe we still are… but it has to end. This vicious circle has to end." She shook her head, still crying. "I can build a life for myself without you!"

"Why?" He asked genuinely.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Why would you want to?" He clarified. "It's a half life and we both know it."

"I don't know anything. But maybe half life is better than one where the bottom drops out every other year."

"You know it for the same reason I know it." He whispered adamantly. "I know success. I know its taste. Its smell. I know how it feels to see people looking at you and knowing to be afraid. I know how it feels to have everything. It feels amazing, and you know it. You've felt it. But it doesn't hold a candle to the way I feel about you…"

He pulled her resisting body into his. He sought her eyes but she clenched them shut.

"I love you, Blair." His arms wound around her.

"You don't. You're wrong." She shook her head so fast and hard he thought she might give herself whiplash, but he knew it also meant he was breaking through.

"I love you." He vowed again, one hand holding her to him while the other slipped into her hair, knotting a fist in it to hold her still.

Unable to speak, she tried to shake her head again, but couldn't manage it. She felt him lean his head closer.

"I." He kissed a trail of tears.

"Love." He kissed the other cheek.

"You." His lips found hers with the passion of his love for her and it overtook them both.

Clothes were shed in the moments it took to get to the bed, and as they worked out their issues on the sheets of her bed and their feelings exploded, a still disbelieving Blair finally opened her eyes. As wave after wave broke inside of them, she looked into his fathomless eyes and the only thing she could see was his love for her. It was as if that was all that was in him, as if the love he had for her was the most important thing in the world.

As her walls fell down, Blair Waldorf knew, and once again believed, that Chuck Bass loved her.

TahDAH! Yes, it still shocks me when I type a word that I have no idea how to spell right on the first try. Word of the day? Innuendo. There's a line from Reality Bites that I have always loved. "She breaks my heart again and again..." And thinking of Reality Bites always makes me wonder what happened to Winona Ryder…

Moving on… This is not the last chapter, in case you were wondering, but it's close. There is maybe one or two more. We'll see how it plays out when I sit down to write it.


	9. Chapter 9

Hello! I'm gonna do it. Even though I'm a massive chicken, I am going to go and see the Roommate on Saturday, just to support Leighton aka Blair Waldorf. And yes, I have already warned people that I will be rooting for the crazy girl. I worship the Waldorf. What can I say? Here we go…

Chuck felt good. Unbelievably good. His eyes hadn't even opened yet, but he knew she was there. Today that was enough to turn Chuck Bass into the happiest man alive. Rolling over he reached at arm out across the sheets to pull her close, but instead of grasping her waist or chest he hand met sheet covered thigh. One dark eye peeped open to glance up at her. He felt her penetrating gaze lock on his, and he slammed his eye shut and burrowed his face into the side of her leg.

He should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

While Chuck felt amazing, the same could not be said for his bedmate. Yes, Chuck had said he loved her, and yes, she believed him, and yes again she did love him… like always and more than ever all at once, but that wasn't enough.

While she wasn't the most thrilled she'd ever been, she had actually woken up with the lightest heart she'd had in a while. She had woken up in Chuck's arms. Not because he paid or blackmailed her to be there, but because they had both wanted to sleep together for no other reason then desire and need. She had peeled slightly out of his arms to look down on his sleeping face and once again her total love for him nearly took her out at the knees. He was more than a face or a body. He was more than money and power. He was more than quick wit and intelligence. He was all of those things and more.

And he loved her.

She hadn't wanted to believe him… but she did. She could see it in his unmasked eyes as they made love, she could feel it in every desperate touch. He loved her and she knew she loved him back.

She was brought up short from that happy thought as she remembered she had felt that way before. So in love nothing else mattered. Until it had monumentally fell apart. It was a sobering thought.

Slipping out of his arms, she'd carefully gotten out of bed, and she'd slipped on his discarded shirt. She had to think. Maybe putting on an item of clothing that surrounded her with his scent wasn't her best idea, but it was comforting. She had been going to head for the living room, but then two things happened. He stirred and she realized she didn't want to be that far away from him. So she'd climbed back into bed, sitting primly against the headboard with her legs stretched out in front of her. She's sat with her hands folded perfectly in her lap, unmoving, for the last hour.

When he stirred she was more than ready for her. Now that he was awake… she knew this wasn't going to be easy for either of them. After rubbing his face into her leg for a few moments, Chuck rolled offer to lay on his back, looking up at her with a sexy smile as he took in what she was wearing.

"You look good wearing my shirt…"

She rolled her eyes and couldn't help but break a small smile. "Yes, yes, but I'd look better wearing you. You need new lines, Bass."

"Noted." He smiled, his hand running over her lap to grasp her waist and tug gently, letting her know he wanted her to lie back down with him.

He paused when she resisted, and he couldn't miss how she frowned down at him when he tugged again. Here we go, he thought as he gave up and lay there looking at her.

"Hmm…" He looked up at her with a near smile. "Been busy while I was sleeping? What has been running around in that twistedly complex little mind of yours…"

"Chuck, we have to talk."

"Nerves?"

"Concerns." She countered.

He stretched again and pulled himself up, spinning so that his back was against the high footboard of the bed and he could gaze across at her where she sat at the head. He had pulled the sheet up over his lap, not so much for modesty, but because with them both under the sheet he could better feel her body heat from her naked legs on his own. He appraised her for a moment. Contract negotiations. She was one of the few people who could out maneuver him. He moved his leg slightly way from her. He was going to need to focus all his facilities for this one.

"I'm surprised you're still here… I would have expected you to have flown the coop by now."

"What's the point? I think you've established a clear precedent for hunting me down."

"If you'd just stop running away from me, our lives would get so much easier…"

He'd meant it to be teasing, but the way her face fell let him know she wasn't welcoming the joke.

"Chuck, I love you."

He smiled, loving to hear those words from her lips. Even though he sensed a 'but' coming, he couldn't help the warmth he felt at hearing her say it after so long.

"Everything is happening too fast… I can't think… I need some time…"

"We've had time… we've lost time…" He emphasized.

"Not the time we need. I was trying to forget you… forget us. I think we need time to… to think about who we are and what we want to be. " She sighed, as a person who was so rarely lost for words, she hated struggling to find the right ones. "If it's meant to be…. We'll find our way back… But right now? Chuck…"

"We can figure it out together."

She shook her head her tousled curls flying around her face. "No. We tried that. I threw everything into us and ended up with nothing."

It hurt to know she believed that… and she was also partly right.

"I want you to be happy." He said honestly.

"I believed that once, but… I'm not so sure anymore."

"I meant it before… I just got lost for a time… Having lost you… Blair, I know I don't ever want to lose you again, and I won't ever lose sight of your happiness either."

"For future reference, trading me to Jack did not make me happy. Oh, and sleeping with Jenny when I'm a little late to meet you, also not high on my happiness meter, btw." She snarked at him, but he ignored it.

"Blair, I love you, you love me." He insisted. "I swear I will never hurt you again. You will never have any reason to doubt that I love you more than anything ever again. Blair, please…"

"I need some time, Chuck."

He sighed, recognizing the set of her jaw. This time she claimed to need was non-negotiable. "How much time?"

"A year."

"A YEAR!"

She flinched at his harsh reaction. It was the closest he came to yelling and it was always rather frightening. Sticking to her guns, she laid out her plan.

"You go back to Manhattan. I stay here. We take the year to think about who we are, who we want to be… And think about us together. If at the end of the year what we both want is to be together… then that's it. You and me. No matter what. Forever."

He pinched the bridge of his nose before scowling at her. "I want to be with you now. Forever. A year won't change that."

She smiled coyly at him. "You're right. If you want to be with me always… then you should have no problem waiting. Oh! And we don't see each other… or talk… or text. Nothing."

"Forget it."

"Chuck. You know how we are. We're better cold turkey."

He smirked knowing that she was right, and now knowing that she loved him back, he would spend a great deal of time trying to shorten his year sentence. Already he was planning the aspects of this transatlantic seduction.

"Uh uh." She glared at him.

"What?"

"No contact."

He scowled. She glared.

"Fine."

"And no stalking, Chuck."

He nodded yet knew he was lying.

"I mean it, Bass. We do this year. And one year from today, if we want to be with the other forever… We meet at midnight at the top of the Eiffel Tower."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled at her choice, but was it any different than the Empire State Building…

She kissed him, and they made love again. And then Chuck left. A year was a long time, but knew, while it would be hard, it didn't really matter. He knew exactly where he'd be a year from now. After getting dressed he walked back to the bed and leaned down to place a last chaste kiss on her lips.

"See you in a year."

_One Year Later…_

Chuck stood nervously in the open air at the top of the Eiffel Tower. He had rented out the entire top decks for tonight and placed instructions below that there was only one guest to be permitted up; because of this he was on total edge listening for the elevator.

Blair. He loved her and wanted her more than ever. He knew that even if she didn't show up tonight he would still hunt her down. Make her see that they were meant to be together. A year ago he'd been certain that she just needed a little time and that there was no question that she'd show up… but that was before.

He had stalked, of course he'd stalked, and he had never been more proud of her. Blair had climbed up the latter at her fashion job, and had blazed a trail that they heard about all the way back in New York, even without Chuck's P.I. She also swept through the London scene, making enemies and a few friends along the way, enough so that Chuck knew there was incentive for her to stay in the UK. He also knew there had been men sniffing around. Dukes. Lords. Blair Waldorf kryptonite.

11:56pm.

He pulled a little at the silver tie of his black tux. He turned and looked out over Paris, knowing he'd hate the beautiful city forever if she didn't show up. His strong hands were grasping the rail reflexively when he heard it. The elevator.

He heard the doors slide open. He heard the click of heals that were tentative in their pace. He felt her come to stand almost directly behind him, and yet he still didn't turn around. He hadn't realized exactly how much terror he'd been in at thinking that she might not show up, until he felt the relief rush through him. His knees almost gave out. Taking a deep steadying breath, he whipped around to face her.

God, she was beautiful.

For a moment neither said anything, they just drank each other in. Her dark, lightly curled hair blew around her face, and he smiled at her silver and black gown. Even without any formal communication… they were in fashion sync. They were in sync.

"Hi." She smiled giddily, her dimples accentuating her joy.

"Hey." He smiled back truly happy.

Not being able to stand it anymore, his arms wrapped around her just as her hands latched onto his neck. They pulled each other close and kissed with all the hot passion and love they felt for the other. This was it. Chuck and Blair. Forever.

TahDAH! Okay, this was the last main chapter, but there's a little epilogue that I hope to throw up in a couple of days. I like a little epilogue to tie things up.

Okay, upon occasion I do actually look things up for my fics. Shocking, I know. I looked up the hours for the Eiffel Tower on their homepage, and do you know what surprised me? The woman's hands making a heart around the Tower was adorable. Her nails? Seriously? Those nails? Hello, 1986. Those are 80s mom nails.


	10. Chapter 10

Hello! I know, I know, some of you will hate me for saying this… but… Dan and Blair are getting more adorable with each episode. Don't throw anything at me! I say this because it will hurt you/your computer more than it will hurt me. Never fear! I am going to fight these Dair urges! I am going to immerse myself in my favourite Chair scenes and episodes! This is longer than my usual, and I'm heading out, and my dog ran away, and there are ninjas busting in my window… and I didn't proof read. I stand behind all the excuses except for one. I don't own a dog. Here we go…

Blair was the one to finally pull back. They smiled like idiots at each other, and neither of them cared. She kissed him again, because she loved him, because she could, and then she pulled a breath away to whisper against his lips.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

He kissed her again because couldn't help himself. "I've got us booked with a real estate agent in London on Wednesday… There's a house I saw… We'd be living next to Gwenyth and Coldplay, not royalty, but it's been a while since they could afford the place you deserve…"

When he went to kiss her she pulled back with a cheeky smile. "That was rather confident of you, wasn't it…"

He ignored her gloating, and said straight out. "You live in London. I don't care where I live as long as it's with you, so I guess I'm a Londoner."

Blair laughed and her fingers twined behind his head, playing with the hair at the base in that way that always shot lightening to his toes. "Well… if you want to be with me… then you better cancel the agent. I've handed in my notice at work and accepted an offer… In Manhattan."

Chuck's eyes had lit up while she spoke and he could help but smirk. "That was rather confident of you…"

"Meh. I figured if you didn't show up I'd spend my spare time torturing you up and down the Upper East Side." She taunted, before pulling him down to kiss him again. Breathless minutes later she pulled back. "Let's get out of here."

She had already taken a step away, but he stopped her by catching her elbows and pulling her close again.

"Blair… before we go…"

"Forget it, Bass. We're not having sex on top of the Eiffel Tower. Tourists are watching. The elevator though…" Blair teased, starting to pull his hand to drag him with her.

"No…" He looked serious, and it distracted her more than the hair that suddenly blew across her face blocking her eyes.

She let go of his hands briefly to push it all away, and the reached for him again only to find him gone. Her heart froze as her eyes found him in seconds, on one knee, in front of her.

"Chuck…" She whispered her heart leaping into her throat.

"Blair Waldorf…" Chuck said somberly. "Marry me."

She always thought that his would be a moment where she'd squeal like a four year old scheming for the first time. Jump up and down and be giddy. It wasn't like that. She sunk to her knees to be with him.

"Yes." She promised, just as deeply as he had asked.

The breath that came out of him told of how he had been holding it. Shutting his eyes for a moment he pressed his forehead to hers as if in prayer, as if giving thanks for this chance, this woman, this life she was promising to live with him. After several heartbeats he lifted his head, and as he cupped her face in his hands he pressed kissed over her cheeks, her eyes, the bridge of her nose, worshipping her.

Blair stayed still feeling ever second of this moment, trying to commit it to memory and live it at the same time. All thought went out of her head as he let go of her to reach into his pocket.

"My ring…" She breathed. She fought the tears as she looked at her perfect, long ago, engagement ring held between his graceful fingers. "I thought you would have thrown it into the Hudson… or given it away…"

"It has always been your ring."

She nodded, not even noticing the tears that slipped past her cheeks. She held her left hand out and he slipped it on.

"I won't ever let you go again, Blair."

"I won't ever try to leave…"

Eleven Years Later…

Even if Blair lived to be a hundred, she would never get tired of waking up with Chuck.

Shoving the sleeping mask off her face, she was brought up short by the amount of sun coming into the room. She gasped and lurched up in the bed. She would have made a running beeline to the bathroom to shower and race to dress if a strong hand hadn't grabbed a hold of her wrist and dragged her back into the warmth of the bed.

"Chuck!" She struggled against him. The mornings were the busiest times in their home, with both wife and husband trying to get to work before eight so that they could be home by six most nights… well six thirty upon occasion.

"Easy, Waldorf." Chuck chastised as he pressed his face into the crook of her neck.

"Did we agree that you could make me late?"

"I've made you late a couple of times… you didn't seem to mind."

"Yes, and those couple of times will be angry if we can't get out of work in time for dinner tonight. The last time we had to buy them each a horse to get them to stop giving us those big Bass hurt puppy eyes."

"Those are Waldorf eyes, and let's not change the subject…" Chuck sat up in bed, pinning her down with a look. "Have you forgotten what day it is?"

"Wednesday. I'm not the one who spent my youth killing off my brain cells with gluttony of alcohol and drugs. My memory is perfect."

Within seconds of the sleep clearing from her head she had remembered exactly what day it was. Now she was just messing with him and enjoying his scowl. He really was too easy sometimes. She tapped a perfectly manicured finger on her chin and let her gaze roll back as if contemplating.

"Let's see… We got pedicures yesterday… You have that meeting with the Canadian group tomorrow… I have that thing with Vogue the day after…"

When he moved to stomp out of the bed she wrapped her body around his and pulled him back into the soft covers and her warm limbs. She bit his ear playfully as he lay stiff in her arms.

"But today? Today is our tenth anniversary." She kissed him until he relaxed and kissed her back, and then she pulled away. "Happy anniversary, Bass."

He smiled and kissed her again. "Happy anniversary, Waldorf."

A half hour later they fell breathlessly apart. They smiled laxly at each other, glad that they had each taken the whole day off and that they had no plans to leave the apartment. They did however have to put in an appearance with their bossy keepers.

They got up and walked to the bathroom, still not being able to keep their hands off of each other. In the shower their wasn't much talking, but their was a lot of stroking and panting until the steam in the spacious stall wasn't just from the water. After satisfying their more pressing desires, Chuck washed Blair's hair, and in return she scrubbed his back… and only bit him twice.

Finally immerging they put on their long dressing robes and headed downstairs. Chuck pinched her and they fell into the dinning room practically giggling. They came up short as their giddiness was met by two small nearly identical scowls.

"You're late." Eight-year-old Katherine Bass bit out with sensor.

Not to be out done or left out of possible pony negotiations, her six-year-old brother, Gideon added in a well placed. "Yeah!"

"Or we're early for dinner." Blair teased as she skipped by the girl and paused only as she placed a kiss on her resisting daughter's cheek.

They always set the breakfast table at one end of its long length, and the children say next to each other, with their parents coming to sit across from them. A maid came in and quickly set out plates of fluffy eggs and fruit before pouring tea for both adults. All through breakfast the children now gave their parents the silent treatment, and Chuck and Blair pretended not to notice. In fact they took a little pride in egging the situation on.

"Chuck… whatever will we do with our day…"

"Hmm… A whole day with no work…"

"No commitments…"

"No children…" They both now smiled cheekily over at the dark haired, dark eyed rage that was coming at them.

"You two are meanies!" Gid declared.

They both laughed but softened it with a reassuring smile.

"I can't believe you two are making us go to school while you stay home." It had been a bee in Kate's bonnet ever since she found out two days ago that her parents were staying home today while she and her brother were not only expected to go to school, but to still attend their piano lessons after AND go to dinner all the way in Brooklyn with their aunt and uncle. "What are you guys going to do without us? You'll be bored with just the two of you."

Chuck and Blair couldn't help but share a seductive smile. "Oh, I think we'll manage…"

Blair jumped a little as Chuck's hand slid up her thigh, sliding under the silk of her robe and onto the silk of her skin.

Her voice cracked a little and she took a quick sip of her tea. "You should both get going… the car is waiting downstairs."

Kate got up, shoving her chair back so it loudly squeaked across the floor and stomped over to her book bag. Tossing it over her shoulder she stormed out.

"Goodbye, darling! We love you!" Blair called out, knowing Kate could still hear them.

"She really does know how to make an exit." Chuck commented leaning back. "More like her mother every day…"

"You wish." Blair raised a brow looking over at him. "Her teen years are fast approaching and you're just hoping she takes after my more… discerning nature…"

"A father can dream, can't he?"

Their son eyed his parents as the slowly got his things. Gideon, who was proving to be a massive Mama's boy, scuffled over to her and looked at her with his giant brown eyes. "Mama, if you get boreded… you can call and we'll come home… Or just me. I can come home."

He sold out his sister, and the gasp from Kate, who stood ease dropping in the hallway, and the chuckle from his father made it clear that the whole room knew it. Blair smiled and leaned down, whispering in his ear. "Thank you. I'll let you know."

Gid smiled confidently, that he had played this better than his sister, and he was SURE his Mama would be calling him to come home before he ever had to go over a bridge. He let her kiss his hair and then he walked out to the elevator to face the wrath of his older sister.

He only screamed twice before they were on the elevator and headed to the lobby.

It was mid morning and they were just about to eat brunch… of each other's body… when they were interrupted. They both sighed in agitation at hearing who it was, but they pulled on their robes and headed down to their foyer to await her arrival.

They stood a united front as Jenny Humphrey stepped off the elevator.

She came up short as she found herself facing off against the intimidating duo. "Hello." She began awkwardly before trying to steel up her voice. "Have you both thought more about my proposal?"

"You mean your blackmail attempt?" Chuck clarified with a raised brow.

Jenny said nothing but followed them into Blair's office. Blair took her seat behind her desk and Chuck sat just off to the side of that in a large wing backed chair. Jenny sat in front of them and they made her sweat with the silent moments where they didn't offer her a drink or attempt to be hospitable.

"I'm trying to secure my daughter's future."

"Interesting. I would have thought your Courtney Love routine over the recent years would have sunk that. It certainly affected her entrance into Constance."

"Look, I'm not here to talk about my past—"

"You never are."

"I'm here to make sure we're clear. You clear the way for Star, and I never breathe a word about how you made your fortune back. We all know that it would be a shame for the editor of W and the head of the Constance/St. Jude parent board, to be outed as a former Madame to the Upper East Side."

Chuck leaned back in his chair, still saying nothing. Out of the many things his wife was good at, crushing upstarts was one of them.

Blair smiled coolly at Jenny, she almost had pity for her, but life choices could be a bitch, and you had to own them. Calmly Blair pulled out a file and began sorting through it, laying the pictures out on her desk so that Jenny could see.

"Here is a shot of you snorting coke with Kate Moss… One of you throwing up in an ally way in… where exactly is that? Bristol? Interesting. Here is a favourite of mine… the copy of the DNA report that was needed to determine which of three men was your daughter's father. It must have been crushing for it to have turned out to be the security guard at Target rather than the Duke from the UK…"

Jenny's already white face went practically ashen. "I… I just—"

"You were just leaving. Let's not speak of this again, shall we?"

Jenny left with slumped shoulders and the knowledge that her daughter was headed to public school. Blair was triumphant and Chuck was turned on.

Hours later Blair and Chuck lay sprawled in their bed, with only damp sheet spread over them. Well, that and diamonds that draped Blair's neck. She fingered her beautiful anniversary present and smiled up at him.

"Are you ready for yours?"

Chuck nodded, trying not to let on how eager he was. His wife was ever cleaver at what to give the man who had everything… and he always enjoyed the results. He was slightly surprised when she pulled a set of legal documents out of her bedside table. They were wrapped with a red ribbon, and she handed them to him.

He opened it and read it quickly. He looked over at her with questioning eyes. "Really?"

"Really." She nodded enjoying the way his throat worked as he struggled with the emotion.

"I never thought you would…"

"I know what it means to you… and I wanted to." She smiled.

He carefully set the documents aside and covered her body with his. He had begun to believe this day was never going to happen.

"You're finally going to be Mrs. Bass?"

"Looks like it… Well… I'll still go by Waldorf at work."

Since before they were married, Blair had refused to change her name to Bass. She had insisted on staying Blair Waldorf. One because she didn't believe that a woman should just have to change her name when she got married, two because she was stubborn, and three she liked her name and it was how she was known professionally. Over time she had thought about what it meant to Chuck… and what it meant to her and she thought of it as the perfect tenth anniversary gift.

He nodded and kissed her before whispering against her lips. "Thank you, Waldorf."

"Bass." She corrected.

He looked at her. "I like Blair Bass. I've always told you it had a sexy illiteration to it… But you'll always be Waldorf to me."

She sighed up at him. "I love you, Bass."

"I love you too, Waldorf."

The End.

TahDAH! Is anyone else sensing them using the Adele song Someone Like You soon? Frak that's a heart wrenching song. Excuse me while I gush for a moment. Adele is brilliant. It's like listening to a soul. Art. Beauty. I can't wait for 21 to come out next week.

PS-For all my IToldYou readers… it is the very NEXT thing I post. Promise!


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